Reduxer - Fairly Good, Based on 2 Critics

AllMusic - 70Based on rating 7/10

70

A year after the release of their third effort, Relaxer, Mercury Prize-winning trio Alt-J returned with a hip-hop/electronic reimagination of that album, Reduxer. Instead of transporting listeners on another trippy journey, the beat-driven Reduxer hypnotizes with rhythmic allure and a slew of guest musicians that invigorates the 2017 originals. Dropped into this Reduxer-blender, the existing compositions are twisted and transformed into sharper beasts, turning those songs from expansive, genre-warping experiments into focused, hungry jams.

In spite - or maybe because of - their popularity, alt-J make the kind of music that can be best described as 'polarising', often making bizarre creative choices, apparently simply for the hell of it. Since their debut Joe Newman and his fruitful collective have successfully managed to insinuate themselves quite forcefully within the UK pop culture landscape and beyond. Harvesting a divisive sound that has already inspired legions of poor Soundcloud band imitators, supplying listeners with sleeky and fetching rhythms is part and parcel of alt-J's DNA.